Does your portal satisfy. the consumer needs. of your members? Don t be so sure. Consider the X factor.

Transcription

1 Does your portal satisfy the consumer needs of your members? Don t be so sure. Consider the X factor.

2 Healthcare is nothing like other industries. Therefore, healthcare organizations don t need to offer the same types of online experiences to consumers. This long-held thought (excuse) is, for lack of a better term, hogwash. In fact, according to a study from McKinsey and Co., consumers want their online healthcare experience to provide the same oohs and ahhs as well as convenience and capabilities as their forays on popular consumer sites. Think Amazon, Netflix and ebay. So, how can health care organizations better meet consumer needs and actually offer online experiences they will gravitate toward? The answer is obvious: Act like consumer companies. The whole walk-like-a-duck, talk-likea-duck, look-like-a-duck argument. After all, in the final analysis, health plan members are consumers so it makes sense. In this e-book, we explore the challenges more closely. And, we lead you toward defining that certain X Factor that will make your portals as chill as anything out there. The problem: Healthcare organizations including health plans are not meeting consumer expectations. In fact, a recent survey shows that only 21 percent of members actually use their health plan s portals on a regular basis. Healthcare: No need for a different drummer, after all Only 21% of members actually use their health plan s portals on a regular basis.

3 Member Portals: X = Cool While it may seem obvious, it is critical to remember that your health plan members are consumers. They shop in stores, they purchase items online, they eat at restaurants. They use smartphones, relying on apps for everything from getting a ride to tracking their expenses to organizing a party. As such, they are well acquainted with all the slick online experiences that are to be had while interacting with cool consumer companies. You need the same swagger. After all, your members expect their healthcare experiences to be up to the same standards. Uh-oh. You say you ve been operating under the assumption that you didn t have to play by the same rules? Better start changing your ways. Member portals must be designed with the same sophistication and flair as consumer sites. The upshot? Healthcare portals need to take into account all of the elements that can make a satisfying experience color, visual design, navigation and clear content. The recent Pokémon Go phenomenon illustrates just how important such consumer-centered design really is. Indeed, in the weeks after the game was released, some 30 million users spent about $35 million on app purchases 1 while the typical player spent an average of 50 percent more time than the average user spends in Facebook. 2 Do you want to know what was behind this success? The game which was meant to help people get more exercise and, therefore, improve their health -- relied on sophisticated user interfaces, provided a social experience, and offered an introduction to virtual reality. As a result, the app produced some of the fitness goals that other healthcare technologies failed to achieve. 1.Evangelho, J. Pokémon GO Claims Twice The Daily Use Of Facebook, Most First-Week Downloads On ios. Forbes, July 22, Nunnely, S. Pokemon Go has earned $35 million thanks to its 30M users VG 24/7, July vg247.com/2016/07/20/pokemon-go-has-earned-35-million-thanks-to-its-30m-users-per-intelligence-firm/ Member portals must be designed with the same sophistication and flair as consumer sites.

4 Member Portals: X = Convenience While cool might help to get health plan members to the online table, practical will keep them coming back and have them eating out of your hands. Members want to be able to access everything they need from their health plan in one, easy to navigate location, according to Sean Downs, CEO for Healthx. When plans start bolting on more and more functionality from multiple vendors, the UI can become a big, convoluted mess. We jokingly refer to it as the Frankenportal. At the core, make things easy to find for your members, and easy to access. The problem: In a recent survey, 70% of respondents said they were not able to find answers to most of their healthcare questions through their plan s portal without having to make a phone call. The takeaway? Your portal needs to offer easy access to all the information that a member could possibly want. Transparency is key. Let s make this clear: You ve got to give your members what they want today, what they want tomorrow and what they don t even know they want but will need in the future. Unambiguously, that s a lot of wants. Health plans need to offer access to functions that can provide improved convenience such as online benefit enrollment, ID card validation, online premium payments, primary care provider selection and even pricing information. Offering some premium functions such as online wellness, care management and telemedicine applications also could drive members to the portal. Bottom-line: The more you offer, the better. Only 30% of respondents said they were able to find answers on their portal without making a phone call.

5 Member Portals: X = Clinical and Chronic Care Members want to take care of business when visiting online portals but they also want to take care of their health. After all, that s what they are buying, isn t it? Health plans need to dig a little deeper when developing their portals. Instead of just providing access to information, you need to provide a vehicle that can help members speedily manage and maybe even improve their health. Think personalized fitness trackers, medication lists, calorie counters, and so on. You could take it even a step further by collecting this information and providing personalized education based on each member s goals and health needs. Why not go all the way and provide some online clinical services and coaching? Indeed, real time care management and telemedicine applications could turn your portals into the destination of choice for your members. You could be that house on the block with the pool table, game systems and stocked fridge where all the cool kids hang out. Think personalized fitness trackers, medication lists, calorie counters, and so on.

6 Member Portals: X = A Plan for Success Simply building a portal that offers everything a member could want is great and all but it is not really enough. You ve got to have a plan. And, you need to work it. That s the only way you ll get the adoption and utilization that your bright, shiny portal deserves. Once you ve made it easy for members to access the portal, you ve got to encourage them to take action. To start, you can drive member engagement simply by providing the online portal address on communications such as s, direct mail letters, enrollment materials and even the back of health plan identification cards. continued... To start, you need to make sure your portal is easy to access anywhere, anytime. In addition to being able to jump on to the portal from a desktop, members need to have the ability to access the portal from secure, mobile apps. And no, this doesn t mean they re using your worn-out, non-responsive website. You need to make sure your portal is easy to access anywhere, anytime.

7 Member Portals: X = A Plan for Success Your customer service programs can also drive utilization by focusing on the following four areas: Awareness Incentives Convenience Value 1) Awareness Provide an automated phone greeting that tells members about the portal Train customer service representatives to always mention the portal during conversations to make members aware of its existence and functionalities Make sure that the portal has an easy-to-use and easy-to-remember name 2) Incentives Provide members with an incentive to use the portal for example, gift certificates to a department store, movie theatre or restaurant Encourage customer service representatives to drive members to portals with incentives for example, providing a pizza party for every 1,000 portal visits 3) Convenience Don t hide your content make sure the portal provides easy-to-find, immediate access to needed documents Train customer service representatives to help members create an account on the spot 4) Value Make sure customer service representatives can articulate the value of the portal when talking to members Enable customer service representatives to use the portal as they are working with members in real time

8 Conclusion: Live in the now Several years ago, a member portal was simply a checkbox on the health plan s list of things they felt they needed at the time. And they may have been able to build their own rudimentary portal or use a simple add-on portal from their claims vendor. Those days are long gone. With consumerism and the demand for more service from health plans, these portals no longer fit the bill. Think about your own personal use of the internet. Would you go back to Amazon.com if it was as difficult to find what you were looking for as it is on many health plan portals. Neither would most consumers. Did we mention that health plan members are consumers? About Healthx At Healthx, we put our nearly 20 years of industry experience and best practices to work to serve the needs of more than 185 healthcare payers representing 24 million members and 700,000 providers. We develop and implement secure, cloud-based member-centric digital portals that connect payers with members and providers. We partner with commercial health plans, third-party administrators, employers and brokers to build comprehensive, configurable solutions that improve clinical, operational and financial performance. Through our platform, our customers can close gaps in care, achieve regulatory compliance, improve quality ratings and reduce costs. Our customers achieve a rapid return on investment by moving more transactions from costly channels to efficient online portals. For more information, visit us at You have the opportunity to provide the same caliber digital experience as your favorite retailers. What s holding you back? Click here to find out more about our free portal and strategy session HEALTHX I 9339 Priority Way West Dr. I Suite 150 I Indianapolis, IN I I info@healthx.com